Introducing the 2023–2024 ASNT Board of Directors

From the Executive Director

I’m excited to announce the?2023–2024 ASNT Board of Directors. This dynamic group of industry leaders brings a wealth of experience and expertise to their roles, and we are confident that their vision and leadership will help drive the continued growth and success of ASNT and the nondestructive testing (NDT) industry. The Board includes a diverse range of NDT professionals who will work collaboratively to advance ASNT’s mission to advance the field of NDT. We are excited to see what the future holds under the guidance of this exceptional group of leaders and look forward to working with them to ensure a thriving future for the Society and the industry.

Neal J. Couture, CAE

ASNT Executive Director

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Congratulations to the Newly Elected Directors

Congratulations to these new members of the Board of Directors. They started their three-year terms 1 July 2023

David Alleyne

David Alleyne, PhD, is the CEO of Guided Ultrasonics Ltd. (GUL), a spin-out company from the Mechanical Engineering Department at Imperial College in London, UK. He co-founded the company in 1999 with products that were based on his foundational research. Since 1999, he has driven the adoption of?guided wave testing (GW)?technology globally to the point where it is now a significant and growing part of the NDT and?structural health monitoring (SHM)?market. GUL exports most of its products and services. Under Alleyne’s leadership, GUL has been pivotal in the creation of the GW methodology and industry codes and standards, as well as all levels of associated engineering professional certifications.

Alleyne completed his PhD at Imperial College in 1991. His research was to gain understanding of how guided waves (Lamb wave) in plates could be used for NDT. After starting GUL with a colleague (Brian Pavlakovic, PhD), the two continued the development of innovative GW technologies using the torsional modes. Over the next 23 years, Alleyne led and directed development and commercialization of transformational technologies for the global NDT industry. From 1999 till 2015, he was the operations director with responsibility for developing training schemes and material for the NDT industry based around a practitioner-based syllabus for Levels I, II, and III. Since 2015, Alleyne has led the company as CEO, devising strategies and business plans with the core objective to diversify the company’s technology base to include SHM and invent new application-directed tools for quantitative measurements (QSR). The new developments have also incorporated artificial intelligence via machine learning tools to aid inspectors’ training and technical expertise uptake.

Alleyne is an acknowledged world leader in the industrial application of GW technology and has gained a wealth of invaluable experience from wide-ranging collaborations with universities and industrial partners. This has resulted in an outward-facing approach that values talent with an emphasis placed on innovation via teamwork, respect, and customer service.

Alleyne also serves on the advisory committee of a major UK charity (IntoUniversity) that works to assist and support young people through learning centers where they are inspired to achieve. Alleyne has also done committee work at ASNT and has been involved in many national and international code bodies, including ASTM, NACE, BSI, and ISO.

Kathy Ferguson

Kathy Ferguson is a materials engineer who has spent her career working in the field of NDT. Ferguson joined Boeing in 2008 where her broad background in NDT, failure analysis, and materials selection allowed her to support multiple airplane programs including the F-22, 787, 737, 777X, P-8, and the 767 Tanker programs.?She has been a role model and mentor to students and colleagues in the field of NDT her entire career. Ferguson has received numerous technical achievement awards, including a Boeing Meritorious Invention Award, and she currently holds five US patents in a variety of different technologies.

Ferguson has served continuously for 13 years on the Board of Directors for the Pacific Northwest?Section of ASNT.?She served as chair for three years, ensuring that the Section continued winning Gold recognition in the ASNT President’s Award program. During that time, she was honored for her years of mentoring women and students pursuing careers in NDT with the?2018 ASNT Advancement of Women in NDT Recognition?and the 2019?ASNT Mentoring Award. She has encouraged countless students with her message that NDT is the “Ultimate Superhero Career” because NDT saves lives before catastrophes strike and makes the world a safer place. She encourages every member to recognize the contributions they have made in making the world a safer place. To that end, she has nominated numerous Pacific Northwest Section members resulting in them winning the following ASNT awards:?Lou DiValerio Technician of the Year Award,?Robert C. McMaster Gold Medal Award, three ASNT Fellow Awards, two Mentoring Awards, and the?Advancement of Active Military and Veterans in NDT Recognition Award.

Ferguson launched a “Building Connections” initiative, which helps students to network with other ASNT section members and to advance their NDT careers. Ferguson mentors high school and college students by making STEM presentations about NDT and organizes student tours of aerospace companies in the Seattle area. She served on the 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 Program Committee for the Pacific Northwest Section NDT of Composites Conference.

Ferguson has been a role model to NDT students at Clover Park Technical College, many of whom she encouraged to join ASNT and later hold leadership positions on the Pacific Northwest Section board. She was part of the leadership team that created the Pacific Northwest Section David Hall Student College Scholarship Fund, which encourages students to pursue careers in NDT. She also consistently serves on the Scholarship Committee, Radiation Safety Committee, NDT of Composites Planning Committee, and the annual Pacific Northwest Section Golf Tournament Committee, which provides funding for the scholarship fund.

Ferguson began her NDT career working for the Naval Aviation Depot in Jacksonville, Florida, after graduating with a degree in materials engineering from the University of Florida. While there, she mentored fleet and depot technicians in the appropriate techniques to use for inspecting airplanes for cracks and corrosion. She later joined a large chemical manufacturing plant in Pensacola, Florida, as the lead metallurgist, where she established an SNT-TC-1A certification program for plant NDT inspectors. She also began Ferguson Consulting Services, which provided failure analysis support in litigation matters involving industrial and aircraft accidents.

Ferguson has spent her entire career mentoring students, technicians, and engineers in NDT and supporting the vision of ASNT. Her primary goal has been to help others build greater connections and form a more meaningful bond with ASNT.

Anita Gregorian

Anita Gregorian graduated with a master’s degree in materials engineering from the California State University in Northridge. The focus of her studies was on corrosion and vapor phase inhibitors in pipelines and other industrial structures. Immediately after graduation she became a member of the NDT team at The Aerospace Corp. based in the Los Angeles area, providing technical oversight of space missions to military, civil, and commercial customers. Her position at The Aerospace Corp. necessitates knowledge and experience in materials, physics, and NDT to provide mission-critical solutions. Gregorian has extensive experience in reviews and audits. Her expertise is also called upon in emergency on-site inspections of space hardware and failure investigations. In her role, she regularly interacts with NDT practitioners on the manufacturing floor, assisting with inspections, new technique development, and transfer of knowledge toward practical applications.

Working with aerospace and governmental contractors across the United States has given Gregorian insight on the needs of NDT technicians, training, and certifications. This experience is the drive behind her?ASNT NDT Level III and IRRSP certifications, Society volunteer work, and urge to serve on the ASNT Board of Directors. In addition to her ASNT certifications, she is also certified in Cathodic Protection for the Association for Materials Protection and Performance.

Furthermore, Gregorian strongly believes that the circumstances of the past few years have demonstrated the importance of supply chains to meet national security demands. Manufacturers competing for contracts are increasingly integrating new materials, composites, additively manufactured parts, and?NDE 4.0?into their processes. In this rapid progression in industry, new NDT applications often lag due to time required for validation and reliability. Both Gregorian’s responsibilities at work as well as the topic of her PhD research focus on these issues—closing the gap between the NDT world and industry.

Brian J. McKenna

Brian J. McKenna graduated from Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology in 1998 and worked his way up to?Level II status?in MT, PT, UT, and RT. He spent several years of his career in the construction industry, working in California, Alaska, and even for some time in the Middle East. In December 1998, McKenna started the company Engineering & Inspections in Hawaii, which began with three employees and grew to 18 full-time employees. In January 2007, the company opened its Pennsylvania office with three employees, and it grew to 75 employees before the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2022, the company opened its Tulsa operations with six employees. Engineering & Inspections International offers all the basic NDE services along with computed radiography, digital radiography, phased array ultrasonic testing, and automated ultrasonic testing.

McKenna was also instrumental in helping start the Hawaii Section of ASNT and served as its president for many years before leaving Hawaii.

Satish S. Udpa

Satish S. Udpa, PhD, serves as a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University (MSU) as well as Campus Mobility Director. Prior to reverting to his current position in October 2019, he served in many administrative capacities at MSU including Acting President, Executive Vice President for Administration, Dean of the College of Engineering, and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. MSU is one of the premier land grant universities with an enrollment of more than 50 000 students and more than 12 000 faculty and staff. He also served as the President of the Michigan State University Foundation. Udpa was the Whitney Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University and a faculty member at Colorado State University before joining MSU in 2001.

Udpa has worked in the area of NDT since the early 1980s. He has focused his energies on developing a variety of sensors for NDT applications together with tools for modeling and developing them. The NDT systems and the algorithms he has developed for analyzing data generated by sensors are used extensively in industry. He has published extensively, holds 10 patents in the field of NDT, and was the technical editor of the?Nondestructive Testing Handbook,?Vol. 5: Electromagnetic Testing, third edition, published by the American Society for Nondestructive Testing. He served as the editor of the?IEEE Transactions on Magnetics?and the regional editor of the?International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics?until recently. His students have gone on to pursue highly productive careers in industry and academia. As Mobility Director, he has championed major initiatives to catalyze several mobility-related activities on campus, including the first autonomous (self-driving) bus on campus.

Udpa is a?Fellow of ASNT, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Indian Society of Nondestructive Testing. He is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He currently serves as a member of the Michigan Governor’s Council on Future Mobility and Electrification.?

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Reprinted from the July 2023 issue of?ASNT’s?Materials Evaluation. Be sure to read this?entire open-access issue online.

To read the original?ASNT Pulse?article, please?click here.?

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